


the yamabuki coffee shop AU no one asked for

by IndigoSkies



Category: Tenimyu RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 05:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10506954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoSkies/pseuds/IndigoSkies
Summary: It's a few weeks into his senior year when Tsuji Ryoushirou sees a new face behind the counter at his usual cafe.(In which Tsuji's obviously into Naoya, and Naoya's obviously into Tsuji, and Nishinaobviouslycan't just stand by and watch.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly never thought I'd write RPF, but then 3rd Jimi's happened, and I found doujinshi of it, and my Evernote started exploding with ideas, and, well, here we are.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

It's a few weeks into his senior year when Tsuji Ryoushirou sees a new face behind the counter at his usual cafe.

He looks young, but that's not surprising - at this time of year, most new part-time hires are new students at his college. He considers asking, but the cafe's busy that afternoon, and the line feeds him into the other counter instead.

"Yo. The usual?" Nishina Yuuji's already tapping on the register, but he pauses before hitting enter, waiting for confirmation.

"Uh, yeah." Tsuji answers, barely paying attention to Nishina, eyes still on the other cashier.

Nishina smirks as he brings up the total. "You're staring."

"Huh? Oh- sorry." He forces his gaze towards Nishina.

"See something you like?"

"I-it's not like that!" Tsuji's face turns pink, and Nishina just laughs. "Is that really something you ask your customers?!"

His voice tends to get a little louder when he's flustered, and sure enough, his question reaches the ears of the barista-slash-owner, Kawakami Shouta.

"Yuuji." Shouta's warning tone carries from the drink preparation area, and Nishina rolls his eyes.

"Okay, okay." He clears his throat, switching into an obviously fake retail voice. "Here's your change, and your drink will be ready around the corner. Have a nice day!"

Tsuji's about to leave the counter when he realizes Nishina gave him the receipt. It's unusual; Nishina usually doesn't bother printing one unless asked. But when he looks closer, he sees a name scribbled in messy handwriting. _Naoya._

Nishina tilts his head in the direction of the other counter, where Shouta's leaning over the new hire, helping him with the register. The boy follows Shouta's directions, and when he succeeds, his face lights up with an excited smile.

Tsuji empties his change purse in Nishina's tip jar. 

* * *

 

The next time he enters the cafe, it's a lot quieter. Nishina and the new hire are chatting behind the counter, Shouta nowhere to be seen. When Nishina catches sight of Tsuji, he steps away from the counter, gesturing for the other boy to take the lead.

Tsuji almost stops short when the boy directs that smile at him. He catches himself, looking up at the menu board instead and pretending like he's still deciding. Nishina snickers.

"Welcome. What can I get for you today?"

Tsuji looks at his nametag, just to be safe. Thankfully, the name matches the name Nishina wrote on the receipt - Kitagawa Naoya.

"I'll have a tall soy latte."

"Soy latte..." It takes Naoya a second to find the right options on the register. In the meantime, Tsuji looks down at the counter.

Shouta gives each of his part-timers their own tip jar, and lets them decorate it however they see fit. Nishina's, sitting on the other side of the counter, is decorated with brightly-colored music notes and instruments, a note offering a free demo tape to anyone who wants to listen to 'the (future) coolest artist in the world'. Naoya's is a bit more subdued, labeled with the more traditional 'college fund', but science (chemistry? he's not sure, it's been years since he stepped foot in a science department) symbols and drawings decorate the edges of the label.

"You're in science?"

"Science and engineering! Just started my first year."

Tsuji nods. "It's pretty tough, isn't it? I hear the workload's way more than other departments."

"Hmm..." Naoya frowns in thought. "I don't think so? More work, maybe, but...it's mostly about solving equations and following patterns. I mean, I'm bad at math, so I mess up a lot, but..." He smiles sheepishly. "It's a lot easier than humanities, that's for sure. Those are too open-ended; you never know if you're right or not."

Tsuji laughs. "I'm the opposite, I guess. I like that there's no 'right' answer, it means there's no wrong answers either."

"You're humanities?"

"Art history. I'm a senior."

"Wow..." Naoya looks impressed. He opens his mouth, about to say something else, when Nishina nudges him.

"Ask him for his name so I can start his drink."

"Oh, right! Sorry." He apologizes to both Nishina and Tsuji, picking up a cup and pen. "Can I have your name...?"

Tsuji blinks. It's been forever since he's had to give his name at this cafe; they usually don't even write names on the cups, instead calling out orders by drink names. There's certainly no need to use his name when the cafe's this empty. He looks questioningly at Nishina, who winks. _Oh._

"Uh, Ryoushirou. But Ryou's fine."

"Ryou." Naoya writes his name on the cup in hiragana, then passes it off to Nishina. "Seems pretty warm for a hot drink though."

"Is it?" It's been steadily getting warmer, but it's still cold enough that most of the customers are wearing jackets. Now that he looks closer, though, Naoya's in shorts and a t-shirt. "Aren't you cold in that?"

"Cold?! I feel like I'm melting with the heat on in here." Naoya fans his face with his hand. On seeing Tsuji's incredulous look, he laughs. "I'm from Hokkaido. Up there, it's still snowing."

"You moved here from Hokkaido? Where, Sapporo?"

"I wish." Naoya makes a face. "Middle of nowhere."

"Tokyo must be a shock, then."

"I know, right? It's crazy! There's more people in my class than my entire _village_. I still can't believe you can actually _walk_ to conbinis here. And the buses! Even if you miss one you don't have to wait two hours for the next one?! It's so cool!"

Tsuji laughs at Naoya's excitement. "Sorry, I grew up around here, so I don't really know anything else."

"Oh..." Naoya looks momentarily disappointed, then brightens. "That's really cool though! The inaka isn't all bad, but I always dreamed of living in the city. I'm jealous."

"At least you're here now." Tsuji reminds him, and Naoya nods emphatically.

"Yeah! Finally out of the inaka and on to the next stage! Ah, speaking of next..." Tsuji can see Naoya's gaze shift to something behind him, and Tsuji turns around to see someone entering the cafe.

"Sorry, I should let you get back to work." He apologizes. But before he can start moving towards the drink pick-up counter, Nishina hands Naoya the latte. Naoya takes it, and offers it to Tsuji with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Ryou-kun. Let's talk again sometime, okay?"

"Uh, yeah - yes! I will! I mean, let's..." Naoya looks like he's trying not to laugh, and Tsuji gives up, taking the drink with an embarrassed laugh of his own. "...Thank you."

He sits down at a table with a good view of the counter, watching as the next customer - Mashiro, if he remembers right - leans over the register, peering into the drink preparation area. Naoya looks confused, until Nishina steps in to inform Mashiro that Shouta's not around. Mashiro looks a little dejected, but orders his usual hot chocolate anyway.

Once Mashiro leaves the counter, Naoya looks out over the seating area. Tsuji averts his gaze just as Naoya's reaches his table, reaching into his bag for a textbook. But even as he opens it up to his assignment, he already knows he's not going to get anything done. 

* * *

 

It's a week or so later when he enters the cafe to see Nishina at the counter, with no sign of Naoya.

There's no sign of Shouta, either, but he can't imagine Shouta would leave Nishina to watch the cafe alone. He opens his mouth to ask, but before he even says anything-

"Naoya's on drink duty today." Nishina explains, pointing to the drink preparation area. Naoya pops up from behind the machines upon hearing his name.

"Hi!"

Tsuji's about to respond when Nishina jumps straight to the point. "The usual?"

He's a little taken aback, but he hears a number of footsteps behind him, and realizes why Nishina's hurrying. He pays, and Nishina passes a cup with his name on it off to Naoya.

As Naoya starts preparing Tsuji's latte, the next person in line orders one of the fanciest drinks on the menu. Naoya takes the cup from Nishina right away, and starts working on the two drinks simultaneously.

"Okay, Ryou and..." Naoya checks the name on the second cup as he places them both on the pick-up counter. "Ryou and Koudai!"

As Tsuji picks his up, he thanks Naoya, who smiles and turns back to work on the next set of drinks. He sits down at his usual table and takes a sip, then coughs, surprised at the unexpected taste.

It's sweet. Really, really sweet. He stares at the drink in confusion. He checks the cup to make sure he didn't take the wrong drink, then looks back at the counter.

"Um, excuse me." The other customer - Koudai? - speaks loudly enough to be heard from the seating area. "You messed up my drink. It doesn't have any of the syrup or toppings I asked for."

"Huh?" Naoya looks at him in confusion, then at his drink. There's no toppings, and he tilts his head in thought. "That's weird, I swear I put them on...I'm so sorry! I'll add them right away!"

"I'd prefer a new one, this one's too bitter anyway." Koudai places his drink back on the pick-up counter.

"Miyako, come on..." One of his friends nudges him. "It's just toppings..."

"But if it's not prepared correctly-"

"Of course! I'm really sorry for the mistake." Naoya bows, then begins preparing the drink from scratch, looking embarrassed. Once he hands the completed drink to Koudai, Koudai's friends pull him out of the cafe, apologizing to both Naoya and Nishina on their way out. Naoya scratches his head in confusion, staring at the row of syrups and toppings behind the counter.

Then it hits him.

"I messed up your drink, didn't I?" Tsuji looks up from his book to see Naoya standing next to him, looking apologetic. He glances back at his coffee, the sweet syrup-y drink sitting half-finished.

"No, not at all. It's good." He lies, and Naoya shakes his head.

"No, I know I did. I put the toppings from the other drink on yours. I'm so sorry, I'll go make you a new one."

"N-no, it's okay. It's fine, really, I can drink it anyway. I mean, I've already had half of it."

"But it's not what you paid for..."

"I paid for a drink and got a drink." He shrugs. "Normally I'd have to pay extra for the toppings, right? It's fine. You don't need to get in trouble for two drinks."

Naoya frowns. "At least let me give you a free drink coupon for next time..."

Tsuji shakes his head. "If you want to make it up to me, just make it right next time, okay? I'm counting on you."

"...Okay." Naoya still doesn't look entirely satisfied, but nods, determined. "Next time I'll get it right for sure. Thank you!"

He heads back behind the counter, and bows in apology to Nishina, who laughs and pats him on the shoulder.

Tsuji takes another sip of the drink, and thinks getting to see this side of Naoya almost makes up for the terrible taste. Almost.

* * *

 

"You need to give him your number."

Tsuji looks up from his textbook to see Nishina leaning over the table, only centimeters from his face. He jumps, startled. "Whoa!"

"Shh!" Nishina hisses.

"You're the one who surprised me in the first place!" Tsuji retorts, and Nishina ignores him.

"Don't look now, but he's been watching you all morning."

"Who?"

"Naoya!"

Tsuji looks. Sure enough, Naoya's watching him from the counter. Their eyes meet, and Naoya immediately looks away, face quickly turning red. Flustered, he tries to look busy by grabbing a towel and wiping down the counter, but puts too much force into it, and the end of the towel catches the money tray, knocking it off the counter. It clatters to the ground loudly, and Naoya's face reddens even more as he moves to pick it up.

"I said don't look!" Nishina whacks Tsuji over the head.

"Ow!" Tsuji frowns at the younger boy. "What the hell?"

"He's totally into you, bro! But he's not gonna say anything cause you're a customer and he's on the job!"

"Doesn't seem to stop you."

"Oh come on, we're bros, right? And it's not like Shouta actually gives a shit, but he doesn't know that. You gotta make the first move, man."

"I'm not taking relationship advice from someone young enough to be in high school."

"You're the one who's still a student, _I_ have a job."

" _You're_ a freeter. _I'm_ about to graduate university. And that's not the point."

"He's closer to my age than yours." Nishina counters, and Tsuji sighs. He'll give Nishina that one, at least.

"That's just one more reason I shouldn't."

"Come on, it'll be fine! Trust me."

Tsuji stares warily. Trusting Nishina Yuuji is always a risk. But Naoya _was_ watching him, and they really had hit it off earlier...

* * *

How does one give their number to a barista, anyway?

He's never met anyone like this. Sure, he's received a phone number once or twice from particularly flirty cashiers, but he's never seen it work the other way around. He doesn't want to make things awkward, or make Naoya feel like he can't say no. So as natural as it would be for one of their counter conversations to turn towards an invitation to hang out, he decides to avoid that route as long as Naoya's working.

He's seen people leave numbers on napkins at their table for waiters to find, but he's always preferred to clean up his own trash - and what if Naoya's busy and Nishina or Shouta cleans up instead? If he never gets a call he'll have no way to know whether that meant no or if it never reached Naoya in the first place.

He does have business cards he's given to new acquaintances in the past, an easy way of passing along his name and phone number, but that seems too formal - especially to a first-year in a totally different department. He doesn't really want to highlight their age difference, either, even though they're both aware of it.

In the end, he compromises - using a piece of scrap paper from his notebook. ( _Not_  one of the ones he's doodled the younger boy on - that would just be weird.) Casual, but not too casual. He writes his name carefully - Tsuji (one dot, not two) Ryoushirou - and his phone number below it. After a minute of deliberation, he decides to leave it at that, and folds the paper up and places it in his wallet, where he's sure to see it the next day.

He can do this.

* * *

Tsuji doesn't get his drink to-go very often, preferring to do his work at the cafe, but today he doesn't think he has the courage to stick around. He orders from Naoya, and they have their usual chat over the counter while Shouta prepares his drink. When it's done, Shouta hands it to Naoya, who hands it to Tsuji with a smile.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah. But first, um..." He reaches into his pocket for the folded piece of paper. "Eh? It's not here..." He puts his drink down on the counter and checks his other pocket. Nothing. Then he remembers - he put it in his wallet so he'd see it when he paid, but of course today he paid with only change. _Idiot._

He blushes in embarrassment as he pulls his wallet out and retrieves the piece of paper, before holding it out to Naoya.

"Um. You can just throw this out if you don't want it, really, it's fine, but, if you do, I'd be really happy, and, um..." He trails off, already flustered and not wanting to embarrass himself further by talking more.

Naoya takes it, looking at him curiously. "What's-"

"Anyway, see you tomorrow!" The instant the paper leaves his hands, he picks up his drink again and flees.

It's not until he gets outside - and to the conbini a few buildings away, at that - that he realizes he interrupted Naoya. He groans and leans against the wall of the building, covering his face in embarrassment.

If Naoya says no, he's never going to be able to step foot in that cafe again.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he jumps. He ducks into the conbini and heads to the back corner, heart pounding as he pulls it out and looks at the screen to see-

'smooth =P'

He sighs and unlocks his phone to type a reply. 'Get back to work, Yuuji.'

* * *

He gets a LINE message at 8:01, barely a minute after the end of Naoya's shift.

'Ryou-kun! (*^^*)'

Even the _kaomoji_  is cute. He doesn't use them often himself, but Naoya's so expressive in person, he's not surprised to see him punctuate his text with smiley faces as well. He can just picture Naoya's smile, and finds himself grinning in return as he types a greeting.

After a few lines of awkward back-and-forth apologies for the rather abrupt end to their conversation at the cafe, it's Naoya who suggests seeing a movie the next day. Tsuji proposes a foreign film he read about in the college's arts magazine, and Naoya agrees easily, curious to get a taste of the artistic movies Tsuji talks so much about. In return, Naoya chooses the time, directly after his shift at the cafe so he can get back in time for a meeting with his lab group.

'So, it's a date?'

The 'read' indicator pops up, and Tsuji waits in anticipation for Naoya's reply. After what seems like forever, a new message finally appears.

'Yes! (*^^*)'

* * *

He arrives at the cafe a few minutes early, even though he knows Naoya can't leave yet. Nishina whistles as he approaches the counter.

"Someone's looking nicer than usual today. Got a date?"

"Shut it."

"Oh, Ryou-kun!" Naoya's busy making a drink, but he looks up at the clock and then over at the counter. "Sorry, I just need to finish a few more things...wait for me?"

When Tsuji turns his attention back to the register, Nishina's giving him the smuggest grin he's ever seen.

He sighs, then empties his change purse into the tip jar.


End file.
